Author:
Samantha Villegas, Senior Consultant (Email)
Conference calls have become more important lately due to stay at home orders, and they’re much different than they were prior to the pandemic. For one, they’re being done in environments that are not exactly perfect for business. Two, not everyone has the best equipment, such as proper headphones and a good Wi-Fi connection. Finally, we’re doing many more of them, as they have replaced face-to-face planned and impromptu meetings.
Handling each one of those changes by itself is manageable but handling all three at once can be quite challenging. Here are some tips to ensure you don’t lose your patience or that of your colleagues.
Conference calls are hard to do in the best of times for a variety of reasons. The pandemic is an extraordinary circumstance that requires us to participate in them more often, but it’s hard because we’re juggling home life, parenting, teaching or entertaining our kids, managing roommates, and experiencing the stress of this virus all on top of our work. Your patience and understanding for how others participate on calls is critical. By that same token, honor your colleagues by doing what you can to minimize noise and disruption from your own end and give the call 100% of your attention.